جامعه شناسي دين و انگاره عرفي شدن

An Introduction to Sociology of Religion

The ʹsociology of religionʹ is regarded as an extra religious study which is, to a great extent, different from theology and its related branches. Secularization, as a specific supposition, taken for granted within sociology of religion, differentiates it from other branches of theology. As a matter of fact, sociology of religion has revealed and resumed a nonempathic and critical position vis a vis religion. No wonder that the process of secularization of religion in the west has coincided with the growth of sociological studies within this realm. The proposition of religion as a social product is not accepted by all sociologists. Some believe that religion can not be exposed to rational explanation. According to them, it is rather subject to intuition than being a subject matter of explanation. Thus, from the point of view of such analysts, in order to understand religious and sacred phenomena, one has to undergo a process of religious experience. To observe objectivity in research related to sociology of religion is not always possible, specially in occasions related to the study of ʹforeignʹ religions. This paper contends that despite the negligance of such obstacles by the main currents of sociology of religion, the impact of the mentioned factors upon the new generation of religion researchers can not be disputed. Among the members of the new generation one can find sociologists, who prefer ʹsociology of religionsʹ to sociology of religion, empathic understanding to ʹdogmaticʹ objectivity, philosophical/ theological approach to scientific and, generally speaking, interpretive approach to explanative one.